~ The Online Graduate Journal of Medieval Studies

As a born-digital journal created and run entirely by a rotating staff of graduate students, Hortulus concerns itself deeply and directly with innovative technologies used within Medieval Studies. The roundtable for the ICMS 2018, Modern Responses to the Medieval, will interrogate this topic from two points. Firstly, what can we learn today from medieval attitudes towards novelty and innovative technologies? And, secondly, in what ways can we innovate by drawing on medieval sources? Recent studies, for example, have attested the usefulness of drawing upon medieval medical recipes in modern medicine, as in the case of a recipe from Bald’s Leechbook which led to the creation of a new antibiotic. In addition, relationships between medieval (celestial/geographic) cartography and digital cartography might prove useful, as do new examinations of medieval science, such as the Ordered Universe project, which analyses the writings of the medieval scholar Robert Grosseteste and its relevance to quantum theory. Panellists are also encouraged to engage with the introduction of postmodern ideas into medieval studies; especially those that are innovative at the moment (e.g. robotics, cyborgs, AI, technoculture).

The session organizers wish to bring people together to share experiences, compare approaches, as well as discuss potentials and potential problems. We invite papers that explore efforts to apply innovative technologies to the field of Medieval Studies, but also those which both explore and challenge innovations which apply medieval strategies to modern problems. The session will be structured as a roundtable with a series of short ten- and fifteen-minute papers (the number and duration to be determined depending on response), with ample time for discussion.

Please send abstracts of no more than a page, along with a current CV and the Participation Information Form to Gwendolyne Knight and Ryan Lawrence at hortulus@hortulus-journal.com by September 10, and sooner if possible.